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Media Groups Make Push to Keep Officials On the Record

By AAN Staff
july 20, 2009  12:47 pm
A coalition of groups, led by the Bureau of National Affairs and including the Sunshine in Government Initiative (SGI), hope to change the practice of public officials insisting their remarks be off-the-record when addressing large audiences, the Washington Post reports. "Standing in front of 300 people and declaring your words to be 'off-the-record' is frustrating for reporters, but it's also silly," SGI coordinator Rick Blum says. "With Twitter, blogs and old-style email, the lobbyists, bloggers and other opinion-shapers in the audience will repeat your words a thousand different ways before you step off the podium. But a reporter who respects the traditional rules of the road can't report what you say to a broader audience."
View full article at The Washington Post
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